The long two weeks of speculation and turmoil at Decatur ISD ended Monday after the 10th hour of trustees meeting behind closed doors to discuss the contract and job performance of superintendent Judi Whitis.

I've bought two wedding shower gifts in the last seven days. After perusing the registries at places like Anthropologie, Bed Bath and Beyond, West Elm, Target and the like, I had a single thought. I want one.

Each time I see a group of people huddled together outside a building with smoke flying from the cigarettes they are smoking, it reminds me of my youth when I sneaked away from the school recess and grabbed a smoke.

A long-standing national pastime is worrying what will happen to the country when it's handed off to the next generation. I know I helped produce my fair share of doubt on Generation X carrying the torch, while playing Super Mario Brothers and listening to a string of one-hit wonders instead of being productive.

I'm in my 40s, but I still need my mom. To this day I crave her hugs, seek her advice and cherish her listening ear. When I need to "get away," my parents' home is still a sweet respite from the stress of this world.

Like many Wednesdays before, you will open your mailbox next week and find a copy of All Around Wise. While many of you will flip through it, the first inclination for some will be to quickly dismiss it as the same old, same old.

For many years, newspapers never bragged on themselves. They didn't tout their investigative reports, plug heartfelt feature stories, or remind readers of the paper's advertising reach. It just wasn't done.

Big changes are coming to the midweek edition of the Wise County Messenger. Beginning next week, the midweek Messenger and All Around Wise will be combined into a single, dynamic publication and sent free to more than 27,000 Wise County residents.

Gov. Greg Abbott on April 4 welcomed the announcement by Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen that the federal government would deploy some 4,000 National Guard personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border to assist in stemming the flow of illegal immigration.

When I was a kid in an Oklahoma public school, I don't remember thinking it was strange to have textbooks that were falling apart or to go to classes in an ancient outbuilding that flooded every time it rained.